Legendary fiddler Duggan to receive music award

EVER since he purchased his first fiddle for two old pounds at the age of 14, Mikey Duggan has been an integral part of the traditional music scene in the Sliabh Luachra area, straddling the Cork/Kerry border.

“As I came home that evening with my fiddle, I wouldn’t call the queen my aunt,” he wistfully recalled.

And so began a long career during which he often played with legendary musicians such as Patrick O’Keeffe, Denis Murphy and Johnny O’Leary.

Mikey, from Scartaglin, will be honoured at a festival in Castleisland over the bank holiday weekend.

He will receive the 2006 Patrick O’Keeffe Traditional Music Festival Award at a concert on Sunday night. The award is presented each year to someone who has served the music of Sliabh Luachra over a lifetime.

Mikey, appropriately a pupil of the late Patrick O’Keeffe, will join the flame keepers’ gallery with the likes of Paddy Cronin, Peter Browne, Dan O’Connell, Ciarán MacMathuna and the late Johnny O’Leary and Jerry McCarthy.

As well as playing with the Desmond Dance Band in halls around Kerry, Cork and Limerick, Mikey was a regular at feiseanna and fleadanna cheoil, house dances, weddings and many other events.

Since it was established in 1993 in Castleisland, the Patrick O’Keeffe Festival has attracted some of the biggest names on the traditional music scene.

Opening on Friday night, the programme will feature music, poetry, singing, polka set dancing and impromptu pub sessions.

Classes focusing on the traditional instrument of Sliabh Luachra are increasingly highlighted. This year, fiddle classes have been organised with local teachers including Nicky McAuliffe, Paddy Jones and Emma O’Leary.

The Saturday singing session is expected to feature Tim Dennehy, Dessie O’Halloran, Christy Cronin, Niamh Parsons and others.

On Sunday, local poet Tommy Frank O’Connor will launch his latest collection of work, while a Kerry poet, Gabriel Fitzmaurice, will read some of his own work.

Sunday will also see the revival of the tour of Sliabh Luachra, organised by Mike Kenny, including a number of stops along the way.